Budapest :: Hungary
"Unintended travel plans are dancing lessons from God." - Kurt Vonnegut
Places: Budapest
Coolest thing I did: Saw the right hand of St Stephen, the founder of Hungary (1000 plus years old!).
Coolest thing I didn´t know: The last song Johnny Cash did was a cover of the 9 inch nails song Hurt. How bizzare is that?
The twin cities of Buda and Pest have not failed to live up to the high standards I was only guessing at last time. It dosent look like I'm going to get to see any other places in Hungary, but this looks like the pick. I would rate it as one of the best capitals I've seen in all of Europe, and that's saying something. Despite being on the wrong side in 2 world wars and living through 45 years of communism, Hungary has managed to centre it's economic recovery on this one city, and it shows. Every corner seems to have a statue or building worth photographing.
Which is handy, as the nightlife here is starting to take me over a bit. It helps when you just randomly point cameras at things in a mildly hung over state that you are probably going to hit something worth photographing. It's been a while since I've been in such a lively city, and my liver hurts a little. Still having a ball.
So, where do I start? Let's start at home. The hostel I'm staying at is an old appartment in downtown Pest that is run by three young Serbian blokes who take it in turns so the place has someone sitting in the kitchen smoking spliffs 24 hours a day. They somehow manage to make sure there is a new hip hop CD in the stereo constantly throught the day and keep the place spotless. Free internet and laundry is also helping a lot. This kind of behavior has, however, gathered a clientel that isn't afraid not to sleep too much. If people are not our partying or eating, they are in the kitchen at all hours making merry. It's a good thing I'd rather join them than beat them. Most people who are in Budapest for things that don't include testing the 24 hour nightlife don't last past the first night.
I have witnessed possible the most heroic effort of self destruction ever though. Three Belgian blokes who are in my room have put in several nights in a row that have started mid afternoon and ended the following mid afternoon. It takes an incalculable amount of stanima to consume beer for that period of time. Then again, Belgian beer is stupidly strong, so maybe they are a bit more used to it. I feel safe leaving them sometime just before sunrise and witnessing the results than consider what kind of result that treatment would have on my body. Still, much fun had by all.
The city itself does look alot like Prague. There is a castle on a hill overlooking a bridge in almost the same positions as the one in the Czech capital, however the wider streets mean there's less space to cram tourist stalls together like in Prague. This is a good thing.
The Hungarians are really called Magyars, and came to Europe just over 1100 years ago. They were the last migration into Europe and were converted to Christianity by their king in 1000 AD, Stephen. I like that. There's statues of him all over the city and my ego won't let me not take pictures of them. His right hand is also in the main cathederal, and if you put a coin in, the glass around it lights up so you can see it better. I was hoping for music, but alas, there was none.
In the middle years, the old neighbours of the magyars in central asia came back to haunt them. The mongols (being mongols) under Mr Kubla Khan (Gengis' grandson) did a whole lot of rape/pillage/burning work to the Hungarians, then after a breif respite, the Turks came and conquered them. While this was probably bad for the Hungarian on the street, they did do one good thing. Baths. Budapest lies on a natural fault line and there are heaps of thermal springs in the city. Some of these now have posh bath houses built over them, and one of them is quite afordable. I spent an afternoon soaking in mineral springs inside a building that looks a whole lot like an Austrian palace. This is pretty cool. It's also likely to put you to sleep if you have been going out as much as I have. I found myself nod off in the sauna more than once. Still, an excellent way to unwind.
So, the Austrians kicked out the turks and took over Hungary for a while. By the end of the World Wars, having sided with Germany both times (d'oh!) the Hungarians found themselves without much of their old lands and under the rule of a friendly communist dictatorship. When ever the locals refer to this "liberation" they always make inverted comma signs with their fingers. The Russians showed up and stayed for 45 years. Not much was making them leave. After Uncle Joe Stalin died, the Hungarians were the first communist state to try free elections and pull out of the Warsaw pact, in 1956. This did not end well, with the uprising being crushed by the Red Army. This showed the world what the Warsaw pact was really about. In order to protect their lands during a land war in Europe against Nato, the USSR set up a ring of communist regiems around them, calling this "alliance" the Warsaw Pact. Everyone who tried to get out of it (before Poland in 1989) ended up getting tanks driven over them. People still, for some reason, hold a grudge over this.
So, while everyone else in Eastern Europe was pulling down statues of Uncle Joe, Lenin and Marxy, the Hungarians put them all in a park outside the city so tourists can take photos and feel ironic about it. This is worth doing, however it takes 2 busses way out of town into the bush, and the bus stop isn't well marked. I missed the stop and had to walk 3km back from the next one. Don't attempt this if you are perpetually hung over, it will only make you angry. However, the statue of the soviet soldier that used to stand over the city is worth the price of admission alone.
So, thanks to my own lack of attention to detail, I only realised yesterday I hadn't applied for a Romanian visa yet. I was already on a bit of a time crunch (I'm now looking at the 2nd or 3rd week of October to be in Istanbul), however I only managed to make it to the Romanian embassy this morning. I have to buy a ticket before I leave and print out my bank statement, plus give them 48 hours to process it. Thanks to the weekend, that would put me at next Wednesday at the earliest to be out of here on the morning train to Transylvania. This would them mean either crossing Bulgaria in a day or missing out some of the Middle East/Greece. At this point, I'm more inclined to write Romania and Bulgaria off and head south through Serbia again to Greece. This is a bit of an admital of defeat, and if I had gone to the embassy on Monday, it wouldn't have happened. A bit of a downer, but I'm sure I'll get a chance again one day.
So you don't get my Vlad the Impailer, Nikki Ceausescu or dogs in Bucharest anecdotes next time. You may get ones from Macedonia instead. I have a fresh page to fill and I'm not sure what's going to go on it just yet.